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Bedtime Anxiety? 3 Simple Hacks for a Better Nights Sleep.

Are you someone who yearns for a good nights sleep but just can’t as your mind is working overtime?

This has been me at many points in my life, so I know that lack of sleep can affect every single part of your day. Your energy, your mood, your relationships, your focus. Every task and interaction you have is impacted if you can’t get enough zzzz’s at night.

You may not be sleeping due to stress and anxiety and this lack of sleep will actually make you more stressed and anxious. It’s a vicious cycle.

So let’s talk about some solutions to quiet your mind at night. These tips to help you relax at bedtime are hacks I’ve been using over the years, especially when stress get’s the better of me.

3 Simple Tips to Reduce Anxiety and Get to Sleep:

#1. Figure out what you are anxious about at night.

By knowing what is causing your stress you can start to do something about it. Whatever is triggering you – write it ALL down. Every single thing.

This way you can see in black and white what your stressors are.

You may have not even realized exactly what has been causing your anxiety but going through this process will help to uncover what’s been keeping you up at night.

#2 Don’t Be a Procrastinator!

Sometimes our nighttime stress comes from all the things we need to do in our lives. You know you have made a big list in your mind – probably too big. This is causing your mind some serious stress.

Many times anxiety can be our bodies way of letting us know that we need to come up with an actionable solution.

Here’s what you can do:

Write down everything you have on your to-do list

Once you have it all written down, highlight your 5 biggest stressors.

Now that you have determined the biggest items that are affecting you, write down 3 action items you can take to reduce your stress.

Act on those items!

Once you have done this you can make a plan for everything else on your list – but just focus on the top 5 right now.

You may even decide that some items are not worth being on the list. If they aren’t stressing you out, get rid of them! The whole point of this particular exercise is to help you sleep better. Don’t forget that 🙂

You will find that once you know what you’re doing and you have a plan — you won’t think about these stressors much at night.

You can rely on the fact that you’ve already started taking care of things. This is a good feeling!

#3 Preparation is Everything.

Okay, so this statement makes sense in all parts of our lives!

If you go to bed wondering what you’ll be wearing tomorrow, how long it will take you to get to an appointment, what you need to make for lunch or trying to figure out next steps on a big project – you aren’t going to get any sleep!

Do yourself a favour and dedicate 30 minutes at night to making sure you have everything together for the next day.

It may seem like a pain at first, especially if you are tired, but trust me – once you get the hang of it your 30 minutes will actually reduce to 10 or 15 minutes.

A few tips to prepare for the next day:

Take a mental note or review your calendar for the following day. See what you have going on.

Depending on your schedule you can plan accordingly

If you have a big project you’re working on- write down all next steps or action items instead of trying to remember them the next day.

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Now that we have discussed 3 key ways to help you reduce nighttime anxiety, let’s talk about some sleep aids that I personally swear by!

Sleep Aids to Reduce Anxiety and Get to Sleep!

Prepping for Bed

1. Make yourself a non-caffeinated hot drink.

This Golden Milk Tea or some call it a Golden Latte is my favourite. It’s made with turmeric, cinnamon and your choice of non-dairy milk. It makes me really sleepy and extremely relaxed.

Another great option is camomile tea. It is said that the relaxing compounds in camomile tea can help reduce stress and anxiety, so enjoy a cup in the evening as much as you can.

2. Give Lavender Essential Oil a Try

Lavender is known to have calming properties that can help you relax. Here are some ways you can use lavender essential oil to help you get ready for bed:

Add 1 drop of lavender essential oil to your night cream. Simply put the drop in your hand with the night cream and massage into your face and neck.

Diffuse your lavender oil. 4 to 5 drops is a good amount depending on how pure your oils are. Here is the first diffuser I started using. It’s affordable and works great.

You can also make a lavender linen spray. Give a light spray to your pillow and sheets for an extra bit of calm 🙂

If you’d like to learn more about essential oils and how important it is to choose the right brand for quality and purity, feel free to shoot me an email – putthekettleonca@gmail.com – and I can share some insightful information.

3. Read a Good Book

Reading before bed is a great self care activity but it’s also a good way to encourage sleep. Ever notice as you’re turning the pages before bed that your eyes are starting to close? You can barely make it to the next page? This is a process that can be enjoyed and also preps our body for sleep.

4. Keep your technology out of the bedroom.

Are you someone who charges your phone next to your bed? This is a no-no!

Who wants to be woken up by notifications and texts? This means you have noise and light pollution in your bedroom. Not to mention who knows what harmful effects a mobile phone could have charging next to your head all night long?! No thank you!

During the Night

1. Keep a notebook or journal beside your bed.

This is perfect for the racing mind. Do you have something you keep thinking about or need to remember? Write it down and deal with it in the morning.

2. Treat yourself to a noise machine.

This is my absolute favourite sleep aid! I am honestly obsessed.

If you are like me and love the sound of a fan when you are sleeping in the summer, then you have to try the noise machine I use every night. There are 20 non-looping white noise and fan sounds. I have chosen a fan noise that sounds JUST like my fan in the summertime. Ahh – this honestly soothes me to sleep 🙂

Great tips here. I used to write down the things I had to do the next day and this would help me not stress. I felt that since I had them writte down then I was sure that I wouldnt forget anything so no need to stress!

These are all great ideas. I also use a noise machine or a fan, along with no technology, essential oils, and prepping for the following day before heading to bed. I like the idea of a notebook by the bed to write down thoughts that pop up.

I have heard of the Lavender and needed the reminder! You are so right on with the to do list rolling around your head. Just last night it rolled around and around in my head. Love the journal beside the bed. Sleep becomes such an issue as you get older. GRRR

Sleep is so important for our overall health. I love a nice hot beverage at night, it can really help the body relax. I also love the idea of getting a noise machine. It always calms me when I turn on white noise for my kids.

These are all great tips as I am all for establishing an effective night time ritual for a good night’s rest! Drinking tea and using essential oils I have found extremely helpful. And a surefire tactic has been putting down the phone and picking up a book. I love to read and it’s one of the quickest ways I fall asleep.

My nighttime anxiety is always all about lack of money and a huge stack of medical debt. It is really hard to erase it all from my mind when it is such a huge struggle for our family. Thank you for the tips! I am going to have to try this so I can put my mind at ease!

I just started using a lavender roller ball scent stick. It has been great. I really need to stick with the bed time routine. I helps so much when I do it; I need to really make this a habit. In the winter I love Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple tea. Great list of tips and reminders.

These are great tips. Preparing for the next day and taking a few minutes to make sure the heavy traffic areas of the house are clean has been transformative for me. My hubby and I also started doing pre-bed tea. It’s such a great way to calm down and check it with each other!

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Hello!

I'm Yolanda. I love tea, food, the outdoors and a good book. I'm a bonus mom to two boys and I just made it official by marrying my soulmate last summer.

PutTheKettleOn.ca explores the feel good ways to live for today. With today's stresses a lot of us think about what we want to have in the future. My goal is to cherish the great things I have right now and make the most of life in the present.

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget, if you need a little self love – put the kettle on!